Army Falsely Claims That Lowering Recruitment Standards Has Not Affected Troop Quality
Army Falsely Claims That Lowering Recruitment Standards Has Not Affected Troop Quality
The U.S. Army’s chief of Training and Doctrine Command, Gen. William S. Wallace, claims that lower recruitment standards have not affected the quality of America’s troops. His remarks came in a Feb. 28 speech to the Association of the U.S. Army and in an interview with the Army Times.
The Army routinely gives waivers to recruits whose medical conditions or criminal records would otherwise prohibit their service. In recent years, the waiver rate has more than doubled, up to 21 percent in 2007. Wallace said of the waivers:
As long as it’s measured and as long as it’s under control and as long as it’s reasonable and seen as giving a young kid a second chance, then I think it’s a reasonable thing to do.
In FY 07, Wallace said that the Army accepted 9,935 recruits guilty of misdemeanors and 598 convicted felons. Another 1,492 had a history of drug and alcohol use. Wallace said, “I know that those who have received waivers have had no higher incidence of misconduct or indiscipline once they’re in the military than those who have been allowed in without waivers.”
But misconduct and indiscipline are not the only potential problems. The National Priorities Project revealed that the percentage of recruits with high-school diplomas has dropped to its lowest rate in more than a quarter century. The percentage of “high-quality” recruits — high-school graduates who score in the top 50 percent on the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT) — has dropped from 61 percent in 2004 to 45 percent in 2007.
According to a Rand report, “high-quality” recruits perform better on the battlefield and complete their missions more often, for everyone from tank gunners to communications specialists. Having fewer “high-quality” recruits not only hurts military performance, it also costs money.
Remember that Wallace is also the official who, shortly, after the invasion of Iraq, offered this explanation for why Saddam Hussein did not defend himself with WMDs:
One theory is that we moved so fast that they couldn’t get their hands on it to employ it… because they were so clever in disguising that and burying it so deep, that they themselves had a problem getting to them.
– Tom
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The smell of desperation is rank in the air!
March 3rd, 2008 at 8:18 pmHow do you justify downgrading quality and the obvious results that are bound to follow?
Can you imaging this coming from a CEO in the private sector? Phew, it stinks in here, like a wet animal… And to think we will have to put up with this desperate stench until Jan. 20, 2009. It is only going to get worse from here on out, folks.
March 3rd, 2008 at 8:23 pmComment by ccokz — March 3, 2008 @ 8:20 pm
Totally off topic. You have been flaged, troll.
March 3rd, 2008 at 8:24 pmWallace is also the official who, shortly, after the invasion of Iraq, offered this explanation for why Saddam Hussein did not defend himself with WMDs: :“One theory is that we moved so fast that they couldn’t get their hands on it to employ it… because they were so clever in disguising that and burying it so deep, that they themselves had a problem getting to them.”
But, it’s just a theory, mind you………………
He probably got this idea from the druggies he is forced to enlist to meet quotas, the ones who can’t remember where they buried their stash and had to enlist to escape their suppliers.
March 3rd, 2008 at 8:26 pm“Obama assured Canada hes only making negative MOCK statements, id est his true opinion about NAFTA differs. Meanwhile, the Rezco trial is in full steam.”
What does this even mean?
BTW, The Canadian government even said it was a big misunderstanding.
I’ll take my link over your blogspot drivel
March 3rd, 2008 at 8:32 pmhttp://www.newsweek.com/id/118171
Wallace said, “I know that those who have received waivers have had no higher incidence of misconduct or indiscipline once they’re in the military than those who have been allowed in without waivers.â€
Translation: “The troops are already so drunk and disorderly that the lowered standards haven’t made any difference at all.”
March 3rd, 2008 at 8:33 pm“…so drunk and disorderly that the lowered standards haven’t made any difference at all.â€
Comment by tom
To hear some of the tales I’ve heard coming out of Iraq, you may be exactly right.
March 3rd, 2008 at 8:35 pmYes, what a strategy. To bury huge stockpiles of WMD’s so distant and so deep in the ground so as not to be able to get to them in time of war. Even Saddam Hussein was never that stupid. No wonder this country is going down the drain, the stupid people here employed stupid Gen. William S. Wallace.
March 3rd, 2008 at 8:45 pmWas it not just a few weeks ago that the Military was on NPR saying they were no longer taking dropouts? And that an entrance exam would be implemented? Because it was accepted that dropouts don’t make career soldiers?
I’m sensing a high dosage of malarkey mixed with propaganda.
March 3rd, 2008 at 8:52 pmIf things are going so well with less than desirable recruits, why wouldn’t the Army take them before?
And I assume they’ll continue to take them when all this is over…
March 3rd, 2008 at 8:56 pmPropalarkey.
March 3rd, 2008 at 8:56 pmThe general looks like he’s in his jammies.
March 3rd, 2008 at 9:12 pm#2, you are:
March 3rd, 2008 at 9:12 pm1. way off topic (not even related)
2. the Canadian government has apologized, the story is all wrong
If they keep lowing standards, retards like Bush and the other neocons that dreamed up this illegal amoral war will qualify to serve.
March 3rd, 2008 at 9:16 pmI wouldn’t be too happy if the CO said something like that. it don’t seem like the the CO is from the upper layer as well.
March 3rd, 2008 at 9:24 pmThe U.S. Army’s chief of Training and Doctrine Command, Gen. William S. Wallace
I’m the only one finding this word very disturbing in the present context?
March 3rd, 2008 at 9:25 pmIt appears that there will be several possible new recruits available in the very near future.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23454471
March 3rd, 2008 at 10:30 pmI see Good Golly’s shift at Wal Mart ended.
John Kerry, two tours in Vietnam. Bush, Cheney, DeLay, Giuliani, etc.???? And you keep America safe from behind your key board, so patriotic….
March 3rd, 2008 at 10:44 pmKerry misspoke and you should know that — it was explained many times. His intended sentence was a slam against George Bush:
March 3rd, 2008 at 10:44 pmIf you don’t do well in school, you end up getting us stuck in Iraq.
“This sounds a lot like Kerry’s slam on the troops that only those who don’t do well in school join the military and “get stuck in Iraq.â€
Comment by good_golly — March 3, 2008 @ 10:40 pm”
Was it Rumsfeld that said you don’t have to be a genius to kill people?
March 3rd, 2008 at 11:08 pmleave it to gg to lie again. nothing but lies.
March 4th, 2008 at 12:47 amactually its never been conclusively disproven that saddams WMD’s wern’t spirited away from the surface of the earth by a cloaked Romulan War Bird right before the invasion..(Jim) Beam me up Scotty!!
March 4th, 2008 at 1:06 amThis sounds a lot like Kerry’s slam on the troops that only those who don’t do well in school join the military and “get stuck in Iraq.â€
Comment by good_golly — March 3, 2008 @ 10:40 pm
goodgolly
And where is all the feigned outrage from you “patriots”? And tell your husband to stop calling me.
March 4th, 2008 at 6:46 am#17 — TRADOC (Training & Doctrine Command) has been around, under that name, for decades.
March 4th, 2008 at 7:51 amCan we get General Wallace’s scores for that: “Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT)” thang?
March 4th, 2008 at 9:13 amLemme get this straight: A whopping 1,492 recruits have had at least one drink?
March 4th, 2008 at 12:41 pmThe fact remains; there are only a few men and women left in the US who, regardless of the politics and irrational (almost entertaining) ranting that you offer, still raise their right hands to defend our country against all enemies, foreign and domestic. When only three in ten even qualify to serve in the US Army, it’s clear we have a problem, and clear what end of the spectrum they occupy. Every recruit in the Army isn’t a scholar, but every one of them is a hero in my view. And the fact that they serve you is still ok with me.
March 4th, 2008 at 9:20 pmWallace is also the official who, shortly, after the invasion of Iraq, offered this explanation for why Saddam Hussein did not defend himself with WMDs: :“One theory is that we moved so fast that they couldn’t get their hands on it to employ it… because they were so clever in disguising that and burying it so deep, that they themselves had a problem getting to them.”
But, it’s just a theory, mind you………………
He probably got this idea from the druggies he is forced to enlist to meet quotas, the ones who can’t remember where they buried their stash and had to compaq pp2041b battery,compaq armada m700 battery enlist to escape their suppliers.
October 15th, 2008 at 4:29 am